This is my last update from my trip to the Philippines, and one of the last things I did before heading back to Canada. I would have been very disappointed if I had gone home without doing this, and so I’m very glad I did.

So what did I do? I ate balut. So what is balut? Here’s the definition from Wikipedia:

“A balut is a fertilized duck egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. It is commonly sold as street food in the Philippines.”

It is typically around 17-18 days old so it’s really partially developed with feathers, bits of bones, and even the eyes, beak, etc.

The visuals are so revolting that this is what they made the contestants eat in Survivor and Fear Factor as challenges! I did it willingly, LOL!

I highly recommend watching the video below of me trying balut for the first time. If you don’t want (or don’t have time) to watch the whole thing, you can skip ahead to 6:40 where I start eating it, but I recommend watching the whole thing so you can partake in the experience 🙂

I’m really happy that I tried it. It’s one of those things that I can say I have always done or tried. It kind of sucked that I had no vinegar or pepper to dip it in, and the fact that since I took it home from the street vendor (as opposed to eating it right there at the stand), that it was not warm when I ate it!

To be honest, and as I mention in the video, I really thought it would taste better. The descriptions I’ve heard of it before was that it tasted just like a normal hard-boiled chicken egg and chicken meat. What I ate did not taste anything like that at all!

I’m sure it also depends on the exact type of balut you’re eating. Maybe what I ate was 16 days old or 20 days old as opposed to the typical 17-18 days old they usually are.

Here are some photos of balut (I didn’t take these, I grabbed them from the web):

75 Responses to “My First Time Eating Balut!”

Ummm… yah, you’re pretty adventerous. We moved from AB to BC, where most people (seem to) have grown up on sushi or sushami and I often get odd looks when we have it served as a company get-together and I won’t eat it.

Years ago I went to Japan, and the company we were contracted with took us out for a traditional Japanese meal at the end of our stay that. That wasn’t a good idea. I’m sure I insulted them because I wouldn’t have anything to do with the food and actually asked for (aaaack) vegetarian.

I’m not that adverterous when it comes to food. I’ve grown up in steak and potatoe land, and quite happy to remain so.

The pictures and the description make it sound pretty disturbing, but you have to realize what you’re actually eating: an egg and a duck. You’re willing to eat these things on their own, so balut is just some strange middle-ground for the two.

It can contain more harm than good for your health, I don’t think that’s a good idea to eat balut all the time! Just my 2 cents.. And If I was in your case, I’ll drink the beer and I will not eat the balut!

i saw this once in fear factor once as well, i’ve seen family and friends eat the chik and what not, but i can only muscle myself to eat the white and yellow parts of it, but i cant see it be taken out either, so i always had my mother take it out of the egg for me on a seperate dish and i keep away from them when they’re eating it…glad to see you got an open mind to try out other types of dishes out there.

If you can eat the non-chick parts of the egg, then the actual chick part isn’t much scarier. It doesn’t taste too great (to me at least) and there are some weird textures for sure (bits of feathers and under-developed bones) but it’s really not much different from eating the other parts.

I kind of want to eat another one now, just to experience it all again. Haha.

I can’t believe you ate balut! When I was in the Philippines I was with some Filipinas and they loved that shit. They couldn’t get enough of it. I thought I would eat it before I left and they kept trying to get me to eat it, but I just couldn’t get past the way it looked and smelled. Oh well, I’ll go there again for sure, so I’ll have another chance to try it.

I just watched the video after I left my last comment and you ate it wrong. You pointed out how you should have ate it warm on the street or beach, wherever you got it and you should have, but you also took all the shell off first and then took big bites. You’re supposed to just peel pieces of the shell off and nibble on the balut with a little bit of salt. They would just eat little pieces at a time. It’s finger food. But still, props to you for trying it. It was pretty savage the way you just took big bites of it.

Balut. LOL. Been a long time since I’ve eaten that one. I used to eat that like once every month when I was a kid. That’s a pretty much popular street food. 🙂

At first, it does lokk kinda gross. I don’t know, maybe it’s just really gross and at the same time, it’s just common for us.

But we do get surprised at times when other people (foreigners especially) rank balut as the most strangest, bizzara food ever (like in Survivor). I don’t know. By protocol, kids who eat it just close their eyes and swallow fast. Think about other foods like stewed cow brain or something, those are more revolting than balut. 😉

I’m Filipino, but I have not seen those pictures. But Balut is tasty when its hot, and there is vinegar with some spicy on it. I have eaten thos strange foods more than I can count my fingers in my hands. Those are street foods sold at night. They should be eaten / swallowed in the street at night where it is dark and you cannot see those bizzare foods. They said those food stuff are totally nutritious.

Haha. That should be an unforgettable experience for you, isn’t it? I only eat the yellow part and I like to sip the liquid part of it. Well actually, I used to eat the chick part when I was a kid. Only because I had no idea what it really was. lol.

Dude you are freaking nasty! You ate that stuff willingly? You know that they pay winners of Fear Factor like $10k to eat that crap. You’re fricking nuts. I definitely won’t be eating some partially developed embryos anytime soon.

I had quite a few Balut eating experiences when living in the Philippines for a few months. I started dousing it with a huge amount of the vinegar chili sauce for best taste, and started to enjoy it. However, I still prefer the “1 day old fried chickens” than Balut.

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